Nearsighted

I remember being a kid and seeing everyone in my family wearing glasses.  It made me kind of jealous, believe it or not, and I wanted glasses too, so I didn’t really take care of my eyes.

I needed glasses by the time I was in second grade, I think.  Many glasses and contact lenses later, I really wish I had taken better care of my eyes.

Esau was definitely nearsighted when it came to his future.  As the firstborn son, he was entitled to many privileges as such, including a double-portion of the family inheritance, leadership over the family once Isaac died, and the blessings God had promised Abraham and Isaac.

But Esau despised these things.  He considered them of very little worth compared to the needs of the here and now.  And so in a split second, for a simple bowl of stew, he gave it all away.

It’s easy to criticize Esau, but how often do we despise the inheritance we have in Christ?

How often do we treat it as of little value, compared to our needs and wants of the here and now.  We spend so much time pursuing our career, pursuing money, and pursuing things, that we forget the things that are truly important.

Ultimately, there are only two things on this earth we can take with us into heaven.  Our relationship with God and our relationships with others who know Him.

These are the things that are eternal, and they make up a large part of our inheritance in heaven.  Everything else in this world will just turn to dust and pass away.

So why focus so much on what is temporal?

As the apostle John wrote,

Do not love the world or anything in the world.

If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world.

The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.   (1 John 2:15-16)